ECM 2812 / 582 1696
Palle Mikkelborg (trumpet, flugelhorn); Jakob Bro (guitar); Marilyn Mazur (percussion)
Recorded Danish Radio Concert Hall, Copenhagen February 2023
Three Danish jazz musicians representing three generations (Mikkelborg is 82; Mazur 68, and Bro, 45) have combined to create an album of sublime music. Palle Mikkelborg is probably best known for his collaboration with Miles Davis on the highly acclaimed album Aura, and his work with Dexter Gordon, but he also deserves recognition for his finesse on both trumpet and flugelhorn, as well as his compositional and arranging skills.
Percussionist Marilyn Mazur also played on the Aura sessions and as a result was invited to join Miles’s band (she played in the band during 1985/6 and again in 1988) but she has also recorded numerous albums as a leader, as well as collaborating with artists such as Gil Evans, Wayne Shorter and Jan Garbarek. She always plays with great fire and imagination, avoiding clichés and offering surprises. Guitarist Jakob Bro has recorded several albums as leader and also played with Paul Motion (he was part of a three-guitar line-up), Paul Bley, Lee Konitz and Kenny Wheeler.
Bro gives a long list of jazz guitar inspirations including, John Scofield, John Abercrombie, Ralph Towner, Jim Hall, Pat Martino, Bill Frisell and Pat Metheny and by the sounds of things, the last two on the list appear to have made the biggest impact on Bro’s sound and approach to the guitar. In an interview, Bro said that he was more of a team player than a guitarist, and on this album he adds colours, textures and effects to the mix – don’t expect to hear any in-you-face guitar soloing, but do expect to hear plenty of inventive, intelligent and sensitive guitar playing.
The album consists of six tunes, five of them composed or co-composed by Bro. Five of the songs – ‘Oktober,’ ‘Strands,’ ‘Lysasker’, ‘Returnings’ and ‘Youth’ (a Mikkelborg composition) appeared on Bro’s 2018 quartet album, Returnings which also featured Mikkelborg. What’s more, ‘Oktober’ and ‘Lysasker’ are also on Bro’s 2015 debut album, Gefion, a trio recording with Thomas Morgan on bass and Jon Christensen on drums (they also played on the Returnings album). All this recycling of tunes (‘Gefion’ is also the opening number on the latest album) might suggest a lack of inspiration or ideas, but Bro seems to be one of those musicians who envisions endless possibilities with the same tune, especially with a different band line-up.
The music on the album conjures up many words: fragile, textual, atmospheric, ethereal, spacious, light, airy, but definitely not lightweight. The opening number, ‘Gefion’ begins with the haunting sound of Makkelborg’s flugelhorn, swathed in reverb and accompanied by Mazur’s array of rattling, scraping, clanging percussive sounds Bro alternates between gentle strumming and sparse, single note playing, and here and there tastefully utilizing electronic effects. It sounds otherworldly, as if one is slowly walking through a dream landscape. There’s plenty of space around each instrument – each player knows when to play, what to play and when to stay silent.
The same feeling is created in ‘Oktober,’ which combines shimmering percussive sounds with gentle melodic guitar and the keening sound of a muted trumpet. ‘Returnings’ opens with a tumbling percussion solo and reverberating blasts from an open trumpet, bringing to mind the title track of Miles Davis’s Bitches Brew. Bro’s guitar playing is more angular and aggressive than on the rest of album, with harsh, jagged lines and eerie-sound effects swirling between horn and percussion.
The longest number, ‘Strands’ is a Mikkelborg/Bro composition lasting twelve minutes, and is another contemplative piece, with some fine interplay between trumpet and guitar. Bro plays with great sensitivity, his finger-picking style caressing the strings on his guitar. Mikkelborg plays exquisitely on open horn, laced again with a sprinkling of reverb, and accompanied by tinkling cymbals. The end of the number features a percussion solo that sounds like a cry rising up from the depths of the Earth. It’s followed by a loud burst of audience applause, and it’s only then that you realise that this is a live recording, because up until then, the sound of the audience has been completely absent – audience applause is only heard again at the conclusion of the final number.
‘Youth’ begins with muted horn solo, with notes bursting out, accompanied by echo and reverb, and creating a ghostly soundscape. Mazur joins in energetically on various pieces of percussion, before Bro unleashes a series of graceful lines that slow down the tempo. Around the two-minute mark, Mazur’s plays with more vigour, adding tension to the music, before the guitar enters again to lower the temperature of the sound – the interplay and communication between the three musicians is nothing of short of superb.
‘Lykaster’ (spotlight) is the shortest number (a shade under three minutes in length) and features more fine playing by Mikkelborg, the sound of his horn seemingly ascending towards the heavens. It’s a beautiful ending to a beautiful album.
